Very unusual full page ad in LA Times

Now this is Hollywood, and a place where some people will do anything to promote anything. So it could be just that: a promo for something yet to be revealed. But it seems that on Page A7 of Monday's LA Times, some guy named "Bruce" bought a full page to write an open mea culpa letter to his estranged spouse, "Trudy." The thing is, it mostly reveals personal information such as the difficult times she has endured since her thyroid surgery, questions about her mental health, their various personal and business problems, and Bruce's decision to cut off relations with two others described as the girls, "Natasha" and "Mari," who might be the couple's children.

In the ad, Bruce tells Trudy he "did the worst thing a husband could ever do to a wife, especially to a wife who has been more than just a partner to me over the past 40+ years." He mentions her value in handling cases in their office — it sounds like it could be a law office — and he ends with a "moving forward" section.

Says one lawyer who I know, on his Facebook page: "What could possibly have motivated Bruce to believe that public scrutiny of intimate family issues would help to repair fractured relationships? On further reflection, perhaps a more appropriate follow-up question is 'What was the LA Times possibly thinking?."

There's also the possibility, I suppose, that someone is victimizing Bruce and Trudy. For what it's worth, an easy web search does indicate there is a California lawyer for whom the names in the ad do correspond to actual family members. Surely the Times ascertained all this before publishing the ad?

I wouldn't mention this at all except it did run across a full page in the Los Angeles Times and I'm seeing chatter about it on my Facebook feed. I hope Bruce and Trudy, should they exist, are OK.

Click to enlarge.